Bracket Update – March 9

Had a bout with food poisoning, so I’m going to keep this update brief.

What happened to MTSU?

Giddy Potts and the Blue Raiders sure picked a great time to forget how to play basketball. Closing the season with a Q3 loss at home, and then a Q4 loss in the conference tournament is not going to do you any favors.

MTSU’s non-conference Top 10 SOS will be talked about for the next three days, but the wins just aren’t there to cover up the blemishes. Whatever computer spit out that ranking is giving them a ton of credit for winning at Murray State and Vanderbilt.

A comparable resume is 2016 San Diego State, who missed the field.

MTSU: 24-7, RPI: 31, SOS: 84, NSOS: 9, Q1/Q2: 5-4

2016 SDSU: 25-9, RPI: 42, SOS: 70, NSOS: 4, Top 100: 3-7

What will the committee do with the Irish?

I have no earthly idea.

Going back to 2016, Wichita did not have a tournament resume at 24-8, with a SOS of 119, one Top 50 win, and four Top 100 wins. But they went 1-3 early in the season without Fred Van Vleet. The committee obviously took this into account and slotted them barely in the tournament. Then, the Shockers went on to win 2 games.

The only hope for the Irish is that the committee looks at Oklahoma and Arizona State and would rather take a potential Sweet 16 team over two teams that did ALL of their damage in 2017.